Dog won’t stop biting her paws

[Birdsong 82]

Do you feed a grain free diet ? It can work wonders on relieving many dog allergies.

Yep grain free limited ingredient and only salmon or lamb flavored. That is what my vet suggested for my other dog with super severe allergies and it has helped with her so I’ve always fed them both that

 

[Tesumph]

I have two Golden’s and both have allergies, but different symptoms. One gets hotspots and is always kinda itchy with drier skin.
The other is a chronic paw licker and always gets ear infections. The paw licker is also dumb as a bag of rocks (bless her heart) and I suspect part of it is just bad habit ingrained in her thick skull. She doesn’t make her paws bleed but if they get really nasty I’ll spray bitter apple spray on them. She gets fungal infections in her lip crease and I suspect it starts in her paws too.
Both of mine are on special food for allergy prone dogs, and it solved most of my issues. I also have to limit swimming time for paw licker and keep paws clean and trimmed. You could try a routine of cleaning, bitter apply spray, and then providing a kong or something to divert licking behavior and see if it improves.
It’s not unheard of for a dog to have a weird allergy, like grass. If you’ve ruled out diet, then I would suspect either fungal or a sensitivity to something in the yard.

 

[lazy gardener]

Agreed with GAC. Even the constant licking can make her more prone to fungal or bacterial infections. It then becomes a vicious feed back loop. And, I do believe that allergies can manifest in spotty irritation, with the skin issues showing in the "weakest area". In this case, it's your dog's feet. I would do a bit of research, and consult the vet. But, I wonder if a trial of antifungal between her toes, and a bit of benadryl might clear her right up.

 

[getaclue]

You might try a cone of shame until you get the sores cleared up. It may still be able to lick some, but that should restrict a lot of it, and usually easier to get them used to, than trying to use something to cover the feet, which they'll chew off in no time.

 

[Tesumph]

You might try a cone of shame until you get the sores cleared up. It may still be able to lick some, but that should restrict a lot of it, and usually easier to get them used to, than trying to use something to cover the feet, which they'll chew off in no time.

When my hotspot guy was younger I had to cone him often. He’d tear himself up overnight, it would look like road rash in the morning and an entire kitchen floor would be covered in blood. Now when he gets one, he doesn’t touch it, but he’ll let me know how much he hates it with growl-moaning and wiggling all over the carpet. It’s pretty dang cute and sad at the same time, he’ll get so insanely itchy that he can’t function but he knows if he licks or scratches it’ll hurt more.

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

As far as my other dog the reason she was on that medication is because her allergies were so bad she would go from just being a little itchy one day to waking up the next day and she’s got blood by her eye and half bald. Poor little thing .... Well I guess not little she’s 50 pounds but she was always medicated up after I gave up on natural remedies that weren’t working. At least where I live they just came out with app a quail about a year ago and it has done wonders for my other dog. But the difference between these two is the yellow border collie has never had this problem and it’s only her feet

You don't have to defend your use of apoquel to me.
My dog was licking her paws constantly. It is a sign of allergies. Check you dog's ears too. Allergies get worse with time, not better.
We also changed diets to a simple ingredient food. Tried every avenue before seeking the vet's help.

 

[Birdsong 82]

When my hotspot guy was younger I had to cone him often. He’d tear himself up overnight, it would look like road rash in the morning and an entire kitchen floor would be covered in blood. Now when he gets one, he doesn’t touch it, but he’ll let me know how much he hates it with growl-moaning and wiggling all over the carpet. It’s pretty dang cute and sad at the same time, he’ll get so insanely itchy that he can’t function but he knows if he licks or scratches it’ll hurt more.

Yours is much smarter than mine. My other dog until we found the magical medication she’s on would actually cry and whimper and it would wake me up and I’d say she was crying and whimpering because she was chewing and scratching herself. I think she just couldn’t take it. But I think a lot of you are right I’m used to my other dog when I hear allergies I think a bald bloody mess but I guess allergies don’t have to be that severe and still be an allergy

 

[Birdsong 82]

But my Molly isn’t whining or crying when she’s biting her feet. I’m thinking it’s got hurt but she doesn’t seem to have a problem with getting up and running around on them But obviously want to get it fixed

 

[Soon2BChixMom]

We tried cortisone on my dog's paws too. You can rinse her feet and then out that on see if it helps. Are her paws smelly? Could be yeast too.

 

[Birdsong 82]

Also a fungal infection was mentioned and I want to look into both of those because it does make sense even though we chase her down and hold her when she tries to come in with muddy paws she does have some fluffy hairy feet and everything so it could be that in between her toes isn’t getting completely dry